Бакалавриат
2026/2027
Россия и страны Востока
Статус:
Курс обязательный (Востоковедение)
Кто читает:
Школа востоковедения
Где читается:
Факультет мировой экономики и мировой политики
Когда читается:
5-й курс, 1, 2 модуль
Охват аудитории:
для всех кампусов НИУ ВШЭ
Язык:
английский
Кредиты:
6
Контактные часы:
52
Course Syllabus
Abstract
Russia and the Countries of the East is a one-semester lecture and seminar course for students of Oriental and African Studies. It traces the history of Russia's relations with the major civilizations and states of Asia from the imperial age of the 18th century to the present day. The course begins where Russia first acts on Asia as a modern empire, with Peter the Great's turn toward the Caspian and the consolidation of relations with Qing China, follows the great age of imperial rivalry through the 19th century, and ends with the Soviet and post-Soviet present. It runs in a single forward direction, from the 18th century to the present, and does not wander into the medieval and early-modern background.
The course treats the East not as a single undifferentiated space but as a set of distinct macro-regions with which Russia built separate, and frequently interconnected, relationships. Four regional lines run through the whole course and structure its seminars and assessment:
• the Middle East, i.e. the Ottoman Empire and republican Turkey, Iran, the Arab world, and Egypt;
• the Far East, i.e. Japan and Korea;
• India, both as the distant objective of Russian southward expansion and the arena of the Great Game, and as a partner of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation;
• China, treated as a continuous line from the 18th-century trade to the contemporary partnership.
Throughout, the course examines the drivers of Russian policy (security, trade, prestige, religion, and ideology), the instruments used (diplomacy, war, missionary and scholarly activity), and the way each region was perceived in Russian political and intellectual life.
A comparative thread. A recurring feature of the course is the deliberate pairing of the Middle East and the Far East. Wherever the material allows, Russian policy toward the Ottomans, Iran, and Egypt is set side by side with Russian policy toward China, Japan, and Korea, so that structural parallels (declining empires, unequal treaties, buffer states, the hunt for warm-water ports, faith and scholarship pressed into the service of the state) come into view. India and the Great Game are treated as the corridor that joins the two theaters rather than as a separate parallel line. Each topic in the course content closes with a short note of curiosities and parallels, and a dedicated comparative section gathers these threads in one place.
Learning Objectives
- The objectives of mastering the course “Russia and the Countries of the East” are to develop universal and professional competencies that enable graduates to work successfully in their chosen field and to enhance their social mobility and competitiveness in the labor market, in particular: 1. In the field of research activity — to acquire basic knowledge of the history of relations between the Russian state, at all stages of its existence and evolution, and the countries and peoples of the East; to understand scholarly interpretations of key problems in the history of these relations; and to develop the skills necessary to participate in research involving the analysis of historical material on the relevant issues.
- 2. In the field of expert and analytical activity — to develop basic skills required for conducting scholarly and humanities-based expert analysis of historical materials related to this subject area.
- 3. In the field of practical and organizational-managerial activity — to form basic skills necessary for analyzing the historical material mentioned above, as well as for presenting and applying the results of such analysis.
- The course aims to give students a coherent, chronologically grounded understanding of Russia's engagement with Asia from the 18th century onward and the analytical tools to compare its policies across regions and periods. Following the story in a single forward sequence, students see how the appetites and instruments formed in the imperial 18th century shaped the rivalries of the 19th and the alignments of the 20th and 21st.
Expected Learning Outcomes
- identify the main stages of Russian-Ottoman relations from the Azov episodes of the 1630s to the Treaty of Jassy of 1791, and place the wars and their settlements in correct sequence;
- identify the main stages of Russian-Ottoman relations explain the terms of the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji and account for the way its ambiguous religious clauses were later enlarged into a claim of protection;
- analyse the instruments of Russian southern policy, distinguishing security, commercial, dynastic and confessional motives, and show how the balance among them shifted from Peter I to Catherine II
- evaluate the Archipelago Expedition and the support given to Ali Bey al-Kabir as exercises in indirect pressure, and judge how far they achieved their aims.
- • identify the provisions of the treaties of Nerchinsk and Kyakhta and describe the border and trade regime they created;
- • describe the organization of the Kyakhta exchange and explain the decline of the state caravan and the rise of private border trade;
- • explain the several functions of the Beijing Ecclesiastical Mission as religious establishment, de facto embassy, listening post and language school;
- • compare Russian and Qing understandings of the relationship, contrasting treaty diplomacy with the tributary framework, and account for the misunderstandings this produced;
- • assess the contribution of the Mission to the formation of Russian sinology and to the wider Russian knowledge of Asia.
- • outline the Eastern Question from 1806 to 1914 in its main periods, naming the principal treaties and their terms;
- • explain the circumstances of the Treaty of Unkiar-Skelessi, including its secret article, and account for its replacement by the multilateral settlement of 1841;
- • analyse the causes of the Crimean War, distinguishing the immediate dispute over the Holy Places from the structural quarrel over protection and the Straits;
- • compare the treaties of San Stefano and Berlin and explain why the first was revised;
- • evaluate the protection of Orthodox Christians as an instrument of Russian policy, weighing the leverage it produced against the diplomatic isolation it invited.
- • identify the treaties, annexations and wars through which Transcaucasia was brought under Russian rule;
- • describe the stages of the Caucasian War and the structure and sources of authority of Shamil's imamate;
- • explain the methods of Russian conquest and administration, from Yermolov's punitive system to Vorontsov's accommodation of local elites;
- • analyse the causes and the demographic consequences of the Circassian expulsion of 1864;
- • evaluate how the Caucasus was represented in Russian public debate and literature, and assess the effect of those representations on policy.
- • define the Great Game, trace the history of the term, and distinguish the phenomenon from the label;
- • outline the principal episodes from the Vitkevich mission of 1837 to the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907;
- • explain the function of Afghanistan, Iran and Tibet as buffers, and describe the instruments used in each;
- • analyse the evidence for and against the proposition that Russia seriously intended to threaten British India;
- • evaluate the sceptical historiography of Yapp and Morrison against the narrative tradition represented by Hopkirk, and defend a reasoned position of your own.
- • outline the chronology of the conquest from the fortified steppe lines to the absorption of Merv in 1884;
- • distinguish annexation from protectorate and explain why Bukhara and Khiva were preserved as separate polities;
- • explain the part played by officers acting on their own initiative, and the incentive structure that rewarded unauthorized advance;
- • compare the competing explanations of the conquest, namely cotton, markets, strategic pressure on Britain and the internal dynamics of a turbulent frontier, and weigh the evidence for each;
- • evaluate the consequences of the conquest for administration, land use and settlement, and account for the Andijan uprising of 1898.
- • identify the treaties by which Russia acquired the Amur and Ussuri regions and describe the frontier they created;
- • explain how Russia obtained these territories without fighting China, and describe the diplomatic pose that made this possible;
- • describe the development of Russo-Korean relations from the shared border of 1860 to the royal refuge of 1896 and its aftermath;
- • analyse the Ili crisis of 1871 to 1881 as a test of Russian methods, and account for the difference between the treaties of Livadia and St Petersburg;
- • evaluate the connection between the railway and port concessions of 1896 to 1898 and the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War.
- • outline Soviet policy in West Asia and North Africa from the treaties of 1921 to the rupture with Israel in 1967;
- • explain the aims of the Congress of the Peoples of the East and of Comintern eastern strategy, and show where the revolutionary and the state-to-state approaches came into conflict;
- • analyse the Iranian and Turkish crises of 1945 and 1946 and assess their effect on the international alignment of both states;
- • account for Soviet support for the partition of Palestine and for the recognition of Israel, and explain the subsequent reversal towards the Arab states;
- • evaluate the Soviet relationship with Nasser's Egypt between 1955 and 1972 as a sequence of advances and retreats, identifying what drove each turn.
- • outline Soviet policy towards China from the Karakhan declarations to the beginning of the Sino-Soviet split;
- • explain the construction of the first united front and the reasons for its destruction in 1927;
- • describe Soviet handling of Japan from the border battles of 1938 and 1939 through the Neutrality Pact to the offensive of August 1945;
- • analyse Stalin's aims in approving the North Korean invasion of 1950, using the evidence of the Russian archives;
- • evaluate the Sino-Soviet alliance of 1950 and identify the structural sources of its breakdown.
- • describe the transformation of Turkestan and the former khanates into Soviet republics, including the national-territorial delimitation of 1924;
- • explain the hujum and collectivization as instruments of state building, and account for the resistance they provoked;
- • outline Soviet policy towards Afghanistan and India from the treaties of 1921 to the Indo-Soviet treaty of 1971;
- • analyse the Comintern argument over alliance with bourgeois nationalists and trace its consequences for Soviet policy in Asia;
- • evaluate the Tashkent mediation of 1966 as an expression of Soviet regional ambition, and assess what it achieved.
- • outline Russian policy in West Asia and North Africa from the late Soviet opening to the present;
- • explain the Primakov conception of multipolarity and its bearing on regional engagement;
- • analyse the decision to intervene in Syria in 2015, the instruments employed and the results obtained;
- • compare Soviet and contemporary Russian policy in the region and judge what constitutes continuity and what is genuinely new;
- • evaluate the claim that Russia is the one external power able to deal with all regional actors, and identify the limits of that position.
- • outline the reorientation of Soviet and Russian policy in East Asia from the Vladivostok speech of 1986 to the present;
- • explain the settlement of the Chinese border and the stages by which the partnership was built between 1989 and 2001;
- • analyse the turn to the East proclaimed after 2014 and assess whether it has produced diversification or dependence;
- • account for the failure of the Russo-Japanese negotiations of 2016 to 2019 and explain why the territorial question remains unresolved;
- • evaluate the reversal of Russian policy towards the two Koreas after 2022 and its implications for the region.
- • explain the decision of December 1979, the conduct of the Soviet-Afghan war and the terms of the withdrawal;
- • outline the institutional framework Russia has built in Central Asia, including the CSTO, the Eurasian Economic Union, the SCO and the military bases;
- • analyse the instruments of Russian influence in the region, namely security guarantees, labour migration, energy, language and media;
- • compare the Russian and Chinese roles in Central Asia and assess the working division of labour between them;
Course Contents
- Russia and the Ottoman Empire in the 17th and 18th centuries
- Russia and China in the 18th century
- Russia and the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century
- The Caucasus and Russia in the 19th century
- The 'Great Game' in the 19th century
- The conquest of Central Asia in the 19th century
- Russia and East Asia in the 19th century
- The USSR and its West Asian and North African policy in the first half and the middle of the 20th century
- The USSR and its East Asian policy in the first half and the middle of the 20th century
- The USSR and its Central and South Asian policy in the first half and the middle of the 20th century
- The USSR and Russia and their West Asian and North African policy at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century
- The USSR and Russia and their East Asian policy at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century
- The USSR and Russia and their Central and South Asian policy at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century
Interim Assessment
- 2026/2027 1st module0.5 * Activity + 0.5 * Presentation
- 2026/2027 2nd module0.5 * Essay + 0.3 * Activity + 0.2 * Presentation
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- 20th century China, Clubb, O. E., 1964
- A companion to the history of the Middle East, , 2008
- A history of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia. Vol.2: Inner Eurasia from the Mongol Empire to today, 1260 - 2000, Christian, D., 2018
- Anglo - Russian rivalry in Central Asia: 1810-1895, Morgan, G., 2016
- Arab nationalism : the politics of history and culture in the modern Middle East, Wien, P., 2017
- Being Muslim in Central Asia : practices, politics, and identities, , 2018
- Beyond Sunni and Shia : the roots of sectarianism in a changing Middle East, , 2017
- Beyond terror and martyrdom : the future of the Middle East, Kepel, G., 2008
- Central Asia in world history*, Adshead, S., 1993
- China and Southeast Asia. Vol.4: Interactions from the end of the nineteenth century to 1911, , 2009
- Ethnicity, authority, and power in Central Asia : new games great and small, , 2014
- Fall of the Sultanate : the great war and the end of the Ottoman Empire, 1908-1922, Gingeras, R., 2016
- For prophet and tsar : Islam and empire in Russia and central Asia, Crews, R. D., 2006
- Большая игра на Кавказе: история и современность : статьи, очерки, эссе, Дегоев, В. В., 2003
- ВКП(б), Коминтерн и Китай. Т.4, Ч.1: ВКП(б), Коминтерн и Советское движение в Китае. 1931-1937, , 2003
- Внешняя политика России на Южном Кавказе: проблемы и тенденции развития, пути модернизации с цель... : монография, Мещеряков, К. Е., 2012
- Военно-административная и политическая деятельность Е.А. Головина на Кавказе в 1838-1842 гг. : автореф. дис. ... канд. ист. наук : 07.00.02, Кондусов, В. С., 2017
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- A history of East Asia : from the origins of civilization to the twenty-first century, Holcombe, C., 2011
- After the czars and commissars : journalism in authoritarian post-Soviet Central Asia, , 2011
- Architecture in global socialism : Eastern Europe, West Africa, and the Middle East in the Cold War, Stanek, L., 2020
- Ataturk : lessons in leadership from the greatest general of the Ottoman Empire, Bay, A., 2011
- Central Asia, , 2006
- Tibet : the great game and tsarist Russia, Shaumian, T., 2001
- Адепт Бурдье на Кавказе : эскизы к биографии в миросистемной перспективе: авториз. пер. с англ., Дерлугьян, Г., 2010
- Беспокойная империя : Китай и мир с 1750 года, Вестад, О. А., 2014